Node Red is an application built upon NodeJS which supports interfacing the GPIO pins of a Raspberry Pi via a webpage GUI.
It does not require that Apache or PHP be pre-installed, it can also run concurrently with Apache and PHP if they are.
Category: Hardware
Analog to Digital Converters
Measuring voltages is a common task in electronics and is accomplished using Analog to Digital Converters. Some microcontrollers and Single-Board computers have them built in, but some do not.
(more…)Using Shift Registers
Shift Registers are a specific type of semiconductor which use bitwise control to toggle outputs. In doing so, a number of outputs can be controlled with minimal wires or programming.
For the examples this document, we’ll be focusing on the Texas Instruments 6b595, which has been replaced by the 6b596 and 6b598-Q1. They all function the same, but the manufacturing architecture and packages have been updated.
xBee and XCTU Configuration
The xBee family of products, made by Digi International, are very useful for short-to-medium range communication. They support Point-to-Point (PtP; P2P) and Point-to-Multi-Point (PtMP; P2MP) communication and have multiple communication modes.
XCTU is the configuration software for the xBee family of products.
https://www.digi.com/products/embedded-systems/digi-xbee/digi-xbee-tools/xctu
3DOF Accelerometer Vector/Angle Resolution
Accelerometers, by definition, are used to measure how fast an object is accelerating. While this is traditional in the horizontal X/Y plane, adding the Z axis can unlock a whole new level of capabilities – especially for orientation sensing.
(more…)Electromechanical: Switches and Relays
In the world of microcontrollers and semiconductors, one thing will never go away: The need to open or close a circuit. There are multiple types and formats of these electromechanical interfaces.
(more…)Adding Soft shutdown button to Raspberry Pi
One of the most common hurdles to running a Raspberry Pi headless is having a way to shut it down gracefully.
Fortunately, there is a little-known built-in toolkit for doing exactly that.
5V Single Board Computers on 12/24V Systems
As the Raspberry Pi and Atmel/Cortex/ESP platforms become more powerful computational processors, they require more power to do so. Powering these devices in Automotive 12V or Industrial 24V applications has become its own challenge.
(more…)